Windows Mobile - the fallen

Just like the PC, Windows Mobile (WM) is the most widely used OS fro smartphones. Although arguably it may not be the best one available. But like I said, when it comes to OS, its very subjective.
Anyway, WM has been around for many years, I guess it started of when the pocket pc was popular and and that time there was no function into making phone calls. As demand grew and the pocket pc being replaced by smartphones, we end up with what where we are now. The latest version is Windows Mobile 6.5 and upgrade from the previous version 6.1.
WM6.5 is basically version 6.1 after plastic surgery. Haha. I say this because deep down it is still 6.1 but Microsoft has made it more finger friendly to use and visually attractive. This version is actually a retaliation to Apple's iPhone OS or UI. All these years Microsoft has been developing the OS with the "stylus" in mind and out of no where Apple comes up with the idea to just use your finger and the whole world was crazy over it. So if you can't beat them (very obvious for Microsoft), join them. So, WM6.5 is all about catching up. I must say some of the new cosmetic upgrades are not bad. Bigger and more organized icons really allows finger friendly usage and looks way better than ver6.1.



However, since its based on the ver6.1, after you pass through all the eye candy stuffs, you will still end up with the ugly looking, not finger friendly, at time looks depressing Windows Mobile 6.1



But this is not the end of the world because WinMo 7 is expected to be released some time next year. Because WInMo7 will be an entire new start from scratch OS, it should be a strong competitor in the smartphone arena when it is out. According to Microsoft, WinMo7 is created largely based on customer feedbacks and suggestions, similar to what they have done with Windows7. Untill then, we can all cross our fingers can hope they would come out with something that would at least post some challenge to the Apple iPhone and not screw up like what they did with Vista. Haha.

One more thing we should hope for is for WinMo7 to have better screen color. Up until now, all Windows Mobile devices are being HANDICAPPED by the *%^$#*&#*#* OS as they being limited to only display 65K colours. Everyone is talking about 16million colours and Microsoft has to stick with 65k. Way to go Microsoft, being beaten more than 246times and still think that it's ok.

Therefore until a more promising(I hope) Winmo7 is out we will just have to learn to appreciate Winmo6.5

So, next we shall look at the 3 most promising smartphones that runs on Windows Mobile 6.5

HTC Touch Diamond 2




Samsung Omnia2




Sony Ericsson Xperia2





All 3 phones have they own plus and minuses in many areas. To make things simple, I will select a few common features that people will look for like UI, camera, screen, music... etc and rank them accordingly. Of course these are all based on my own experience and you may or may not think otherwise. Again, this is just a reference for people who wants to get a better picture of things.



*credit to gsmarena for the pics*

iPhone 3Gs - the chosen one

I guess the iPhone was the one that started off the touch interface phone craze that has been going around. Its true that Windows Mobile has been around quite some time and also Palm is also a touch based UI(user interface) but its the iPhone that got everyone so hyped up about it. Until today, all the new touch phones are being compared to the iPhone.

In all my comments I will just highlight the features, advantages and disadvantages. All of those will be based on the common and general preference of users. Meaning, I will not comparing about techie things like how many RAM, ROM, built in memory, pixel counts and so on. It will just on what normal people would expect from the phone for the price that you are paying. Also, I will not explain much about the OS or UI because I think its very subjective among different people and you really have to try it out yourself and find the one that really suites your needs and style.

The latest iPhone is the iPhone3Gs and like all iPhones, there is only on version of it, the Apple version. Meaning, this OS is solely for iPhone and you can't find it in any other makers. Its either take it or leave it. And so far, everybody has been taking it.

Main Advantages

• Great body. Its one hell of a sexy phone. The phone design is one of the main selling points. Being a touch phone the screen is big 3.5" big. But the design and curve managed to hide all that up and made the looks like really good for a phone that size. The phone design is really popular among the ladies.
• Excellent OS. The phone is by far the most user friendly smartphone in the market. The phone is fast and performs each function with minimum or no lag at all. Its so far the most stable OS for a smartphone and also the most intuitive. The UI is icon based and it makes everything very simple and easy to use. Another plus point amongst the ladies.
• Great Capacitive screen. Here is gets a little techie but its important. Normal touch phones uses a resistive screen which detects an action when you apply pressure on the screen. Basically you can use whatever to press on the screen and it will register, most people use their nails. Capacitive screen on the other hand detects the action when you touch the screen. And it only registers the finger touch and some special stylus. Finger nails or regular stylus do not register as an action. Its good because you will unlikely to press the wrong thing. Furthermore, capacitive screens allows multiple touch function. Hence, the famous Apple "pinch" to zoom gesture. Resistive screens can only detect one action at a time.
• Excellent software options. Being a smartphone, you can upload additional software into the phone. Some for free and some you may need to buy them. But because the iPhone is so popular there's a library of different software around and which will definitely suite your usage. Furthermore, there are also lots of games made for the iPhone.
  
• Great web browser. If you are a Macbook user. You should know how good the safari browser is and the browser for the iPhone is the mini version of it. So basically all the the good stuffs are in it. The "pinch" zoom makes it even better to use given the size of the screen. You cannot possibly see everything like in the pc.
  

Main Disadvantages

• Crappy camera. Honestly I think this is the weakest part of the iPhone. The camera is totally a piece of *#*&. Sorry for the language but I'm really disappointed and feel short changed by the camera they are offering. For the price you are paying for the phone, you get a 3.2mpx camera. Personally I think 5mpx is the minimum requirement these days. Another thing about the camera is that there is no flash. I repeat, NO FLASH! Maybe 3 years ago, you can get away with that but the topic now is what type of flash you have (xenon or LED) and not whether you have flash on your phone or not. Another issue is that there is no dedicated camera button for taking pictures i.e. you need to press screen to snap a picture. However, I do think its cool that the camera has touch focus. Either way, if you are a person who like to take pictures with your phone, STAY AWAY for the iPhone. Obviously its not meant to be a camera phone.
• 3G and bluetooth is for data only. Given the crappy 3G service here, I don't think this is an issue but being a smartphone, I think it is. There is no second camera at the front for video calls. When it comes to bluetooth, I think the most common use of it would be with your bluetooth hands free. But I guess the people at Apple wants to see people hang their white cable from their pockets so the only bluetooth function in the iPhone is for data transfer. No hands free and no cool wires headphones for you to listen to music.
• Just one keyboard option. The only keyboard they have is the full QWERTY keyboard. Its not a bad thing actually. In fact, when you are used to it, it makes typing faster then the usual alphanumeric keypad. The problem is that its practically impossible to type with one hand.
  
• Same old design. This may not be an issue now but I think it will be in the near future. iPhone 3Gs is the third generation oh iPhone and it still carries the same design as the first. Maybe the white back is a change but it still looks the same. Its a good design but I don't think its good enough to survive until the next generation of iPhones. FYI, it looks exactly like an iPod too.
  

OK, this is about it for iPhone. I hope it will give you a rough idea what to expect and what to look for in the iPhone. If you are a first time smartphone or touch phone user and you don't mind the crappy camera, I think the iPhone 3Gs is a good start. The excellent OS will give you a good transition from your conventional phone to the high tech side.

Next, I'll be talking on the phone that runs on Windows Mobile. I'll be talking about the lastest version Windows Mobile 6.5 and I'll take 3 phones to compare. Samsung Omnia2, SE Xperia2 and HTC touch2

*credit to gsmarena for the pics*

What's your mobile?

I'm writing this because I was thinking of changing my mobile phone (mp) and with the amount of options around, its really giving me a big headache. I'm using the term mobile phone(mp) and not hand phone because the term hand phone was used way back when phones were small and they could fit onto your hands. But now the emphasis is not really on the size of the phone but the features and the mobility it provides, hence, the term mobile phone (mp). And recently there is a new breed of mp whereby they can perform pc like task and also giving the felxibility of installing different programs in it. This new breed is called the smartphones.

I'm currently using a Nokia N95 and in the mobile world, it probably needs to be scrapped. 1 mp year is equivalent to 5 car years. So basically my phone is about 15 car years. It sure looks like it. haha.

Before I go on, please not that I am NOT a tech geek or something ... I am just "well informed"

OK. Let's continue. Basically the few famous brands would be Nokia, Sony Ericsson (SE) and recently Samsung and LG. Motorola is basically DEAD. HTC is also very popular in the smartphone segment. Thus, it would be impossible for me to talk about all of them so I will just focus on the feature packed high end phones. The reason is because they are the most expensive and similar. With the amount of money you are putting on a phone, you really need to think twice about it.

I don't think I can fit everything there is about in one article so I'm splitting it up into different segments. This article is the introduction and throughout the week I'll try my best to finish up on the everything.

As mentioned I will be discussing on the feature packed high end phones i.e. RM2000 and above phones. Coincidentally, they are all smartphones and are touch interfaced. I guess this is the trend mobile phones are moving towards. At least for high end phones.

Let me give a brief introduction on smartphones. Just like the pc, smartphones are getting very popular these days as the phone processors gets faster. At this moment in time, the fastest phone processor is 1Ghz. Its crazy if you consider some years ago, your pc or laptop is running at that speed. Like the pc, you can load different software into your smartphones and other features include full email capabilities, synchronizing data with your pc and etc. I guess you get what I mean. You can categorize smartphones either by the makers i.e Nokia, SE, HTC and so on or by the Operating system (OS). The current OS in the market are Windows Mobile (Winmo), Symbian, Apple as in iPhone and the recently launched Android.

In this discussion I will categorize them according to their OS because I feel that if you are a smarphone user like myself, your emphasis will be on the OS capabilities and not the brand of the phone. Furthermore, if I were to explain each phone individually I will have to repeat the OS info many times and its really annoying. Haha.

Well, that's about it on the introduction. So please look forward for the next article as I would embark on my first attempt to provided a guideline on purchasing a feature packed high end mobile phone. Note that this is not a comprehensive phone review, its just some sharing of information.

My first discussion will be on the iPhone, arguably the "holy grail" of the smartphone world. Some people consider it the best thing since Playstation. I just that its an iPod that can make phone calls. Haha ...


*Credit to gsmarena for the pics*

Into the black hole

This will probably make some people feel uncomfortable but I think its important... haha.

Well.. I was at a local shopping mall yesterday, suddenly I had this urge to go to the toilet. Not for a pee but for the BIG one. So I went to the toilet and did my business. I chose the squat type cause for some reason I dun feel comfortable having my ass sharing the same toilet seat of many many strangers. If you know what I mean. Anyway, after I've done my business and of course i flushed the toilet and for some reason a thought came to mind. What if I dropped something into the toilet i.e. the BLACK HOLE. Holy shit... literally.

I have head cases where people dropped their stuffs into the toilet especially their hand phones. How would you react if it was to happen to you? Will you have enough courage to put your hand in and pick it up? If it was a seating toilet then its probably easier but what if it was the black hole?

What if it was worse? Your stuff dropped in before you flushed? With the UFOs (Unidentified Floating Object) is floating around? OMG!

OK, I believe there are brave people out there and they probably will have enough courage to pick it up. Before or after flushing. I dun want to know...

In the case of the hp dropping in it. I think its the most common tragic accident. Given that your hp actually survives the underwater treatment, will you have the courage to put the phone on your face and near your mouth knowing that it had been to the BLACK HOLE?

For those who think they are OK with it. I salute you. For those who are disturbed by the thought, dun worry, you are not alone ...

Either way, just be careful when you shit.

PS.
It may happen when you pee too so be careful when you pee

Movie: Marley and Me

I saw the movie "Marley and Me" a few days back and I have to say its really out of my expectation. I mean, its really good.

The thing is, I did not know about the book, nor did I have any rough idea on what is the movie about. For one thing, the cover picture implies that its just a romantic comedy. In a certain way, it is a romantic comedy but most of the part it isn't. Its more about the relationship between people and their dog(s).

The story circles around this newly married couple, moved to a new place and new jobs and all. In the beginning it was all fun but at that moment in time, the husband Grogan or something, is not ready to have a baby so he decides to get a puppy for the wife instead. Just to get her mind off the baby thing for a few years. So basically the story shows the progress of the guys life with the dog, eventually they did have kids and a better life. But all of it they shared it with the dog, named Marley.

Anyone who has every owed a dog will definitely be able to relate to this movie and really like it. Myself included. You can actually see and understand the unconditional love that your dog gives you that in most occasion, you tend to forget and neglect. Personally I think its a good movie for you to think about. And appreciate your pet. Not only dogs.

The reason? They die before you do. Yes! its shitty but that's the price you have to pay for their companionship. Towards the end of the movie, Marley died of old age. At that moment that cinema was in total silence, you know that everyone was heartbroken and many cried. I cried too. Its nothing to be ashamed about cause I had my share of dog companionship and I see my dog died too. And trust me, its really shitty. I have a couple of dogs now and one of them, his name is Peanut, he's really very old and will probably go off any time. So its even more shitty for me watching that movie.

So it does make you wanna appreciate the short time you have with them and of course give them the unconditional love that they gave you.

If you have a dog, I highly recommend you to watch the movie as you will definately appreciate it as much as I have. For those who have never had pets before, perhaps this movie will help understand why some people love their pets so much and are willing to sacrifice so much for them.